The Lions tied with the San Francisco 49ers as the only teams with three players on the list. The Minnesota Vikings were the only other team with multiple players among the top 50.

The magazine's editors used a 40-point rating system based on four criteria: speed, strength, agility and endurance. They looked at athletes in all sports and eventually came up with a list that included athletes from 15 unique sports.

The NFL was the most-represented sport with 16 players on the list. Next came soccer with seven then the NBA with six.